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Monday, July 29, 2013

QR Codes Help Make Learning Independent!

This post is about one way we utilize QR Codes in our teaching to increase student accountability and take their learning to the next level! In Kindergarten the beginning of the year can be very tricky for independent work. It is crucial that the activities be a good fit for the students, engaging, and of course--teaching activities. When I was on vacation (don't all teachers shop for their classroom on vacation?!?!) I came across this fun game: Pop for Counting from Learning Resources. It is a great activity to go along with developing number sense. Whats hard is that its not very independent Kindergarten friendly. If an adult isn't there to help monitor answers, the game becomes less learning and more just playing around. In years past I've stayed away from these types of activities as I couldn't figure out how to get them to work academically for me. What has changed for this year?! MY LOVE FOR QR CODES! They are going to be me when I can't be there! My plan is to add a QR code to the back of each game piece that when scanned will say the correct answer. This provides students with immediate feedback and correct academics. Follow along to see how I take this game from terrific to terrific and teaching! If you want a more comprehensive understanding of QR codes join us at our QR Codes and Education workshop and make sure to follow our blog as we will be sharing the latest and greatest about teaching with QR Codes.

Step 1: Purchase game. This game came from Learning Resources, although similar games are in many educational catalogs. I sorted the playing chips by number so I would know how many QR codes I'd need for each number.

Step 2: Download the i-nigma app in iTunes. This app will scan the QR code and provide a verbal response (not just a written text like in most QR reader apps). It is easy to use. Once you open the app point the device's camera at the QR code and it will do the rest! (which is scan it, send you to the qr voice website and then read it to you) After scanning the students just have to go back to home and open the i-nigma app to do the next one!

Step 3: Create QR codes. Head to qrvoice.net and type in the box the text you want to be spoken. We posted a link to download a google document with qrvoice QR codes done for you for numbers 1-10. Check it out http://goo.gl/bgqzCJ it is FREE! When you go into the document you can change the size of the QR codes or copy them to make as many as you need. For this game I created 7 QR codes for each number as that is how many playing chips I have.

Step 4: Scan the qrcode with the i-nigma app. It will speak to you the text you assigned to the QR code.

Step 5: Print, cut out and laminate the amount of QR codes you need to the back of the playing chips.

Finished Product!

Step 6: Play the game! For this game the player spins and takes either 1, 2 or 3 'bubble' chips. If they can correctly say what number is represented on the chips they get to keep the chip. To find out if they said the correct answer, the player scans the QR code on the back after giving their answer. If they hear the answer they had given they are correct they get to keep the chip! If they hear a different answer, they put the chip back into the pile......but they now have had immediate feedback and can work on correcting their errors! Plus, no arguing over what the correct answer is-it is right there for them! The player with the most chips at the end wins! However, in my book, everyone wins: immediate feedback, engaging learning, and successful independent work! Hooray!

We'd love to hear from you if there is any other classroom games that you have modified using QR codes. Or perhaps you have an activity that you'd like for us to create QR codes for! We'd love to help you increase student accountability in your classroom with the use of QR codes!

I'm still shocked about the amount of teachers (and people) that don't know about them or realize how they can be used in school. I just love seeing the light bulb go on when they realize what can be done.

About Me

Who is NORMOFF? No, its not a Dr. Seuss character-Normoff is the combination of our last names (NORMan and kalthOFF) This came about when we were co-teaching a K-1 class in summer school and we realized we couldn't call them Kinderfriends, or 1st graders, or Norman's class....you get the picture. So we combined it and came up with Normoff! We love working together and all things technology, so we decided to start our own techie teachers entity when we embarked on our blogging adventure!